July 21, 1973. Four PFLP guerillas, led by a JRA member, hijack another Japan Airlines plane in Amsterdam, fly it to Libya, release the passengers and crew, and blow it up for no apparent reason.

August 1974. Eight are killed and 264 wounded in a JRA attack on the headquarters of Mitsubishi and Mitsui in downtown Tokyo. Ekita Yukiko is arrested as the suspected mastermind of the attack.

September 1974. The JRA seizes the French embassy in The Hague and holds the ambassador hostage until a JRA member is released from prison. The standoff ends peacefully when the Japanese government complies.

August 1975. Red Army raids four embassies in Kuala Lumpur, and releases 53 hostages in exchange for—yup, you guessed it—more Red Army members.

September 1977. The JRA hijacks yet another Japan Airlines plane in Bangladesh, and demands that six Red Army members, including Ekita, be freed in exchange for return of the aircraft and its passengers. The Japanese government again complies.

April 1988. The Red Army strikes again, this time destroying a U.S. military club near Naples, Italy, killing five.

March 1995. Ekita Yukiko is arrested in Romania for possession of a forged passport.

November 1995. Ekita's trial resumes after an eighteen-year hiatus.

February 1997. Lebanese authorities arrest five more Red Army members, including cell leader Okamoto Kozo.

The Red Army has two major cells today, one in Lebanon and one in North Korea. The North Korean cell is still largely a mystery, but the Lebanese cell is known to be supported by Hezbollah and several other Arab terrorist groups.

For more information: http://www.sooderso.de/online/2000/november/jra.htm